Our study provides real-world evidence that disruptive climate protests can increase support for more moderate climate organizations, referred to as a positive radical flank effect. A widely publicized protest campaign by Just Stop Oil increased support for Friends of the Earth, a moderate climate organization that was not involved in the protests.
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References
Haines, H. H. Black radicalization and the funding of civil rights: 1957–1970. Soc. Probl. 32, 31–43 (1984). An early tentative exploration of the radical flank effect including important theoretical considerations.
Simpson, B., Willer, R. & Feinberg, M. Radical flanks of social movements can increase support for moderate factions. PNAS Nexus 1, pgac110 (2022). This paper reports a positive radical flank effect in the context of vignette experiments that present participants with fictitious texts about protests.
Feinberg, M., Willer, R. & Kovacheff, C. The activist’s dilemma: extreme protest actions reduce popular support for social movements. J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 119, 1086–1111 (2020). A paper that describes the tension between advantages and disadvantages of radical protest tactics based on a series of experiments.
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This is a summary of: Ostarek, M. et al. Radical climate protests linked to increases in public support for moderate organizations. Nat. Sustain. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-024-01444-1 (2024).
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How disruptive climate protests can benefit the broader climate movement. Nat Sustain 7, 1564–1565 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-024-01445-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-024-01445-0
